Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum
velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The
Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once
again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this
mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans
credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the
Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire
hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy
Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will
Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that
turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In
alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the
Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula
from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored
action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-
minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror
folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this
colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever
bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed.